Summary
Scott Jones is a Canadian official, who was appointed to head a cyber security agency, in 2018.[1] His agency, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, will have 750 individuals in 2019.[2]
Scott Jones | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | civil servant |
| Known for | first director of the CCCS, a Canadian intelligence agency |
Jones has Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Electronic Systems Engineering, and a Masters in Business Administration.[1]
Jones first worked for the Communications Security Establishment in 1999.[1] He has held a variety of appointments, at the Assistant Deputy Minister level, including serving as a security advisor at the Privy Council Office.
Huawei position edit
Press reports have characterized Jones's position on allowing Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to bid on Government contracts as being at odds with the position of his opposite numbers at Canada's allies' intelligence agencies.[3][4]
Jones's testimony before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in September 2018.[5] The Register characterized his confidence that Canadian precautions precluded the need for an outright ban on Huawei bidding on government contracts as a "dig" against his Australian opposite numbers.
United States Senators Marco Rubio and Mark Warner sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning him Canada should not trust Huawei, triggered by Jones's testimony.[6]
References edit
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"Scott Jones, Head-designate, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and Deputy Chief, IT Security, CSE". Communications Security Establishment (Press release). 2018-06-12. Archived from the original on 2018-06-28. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
Scott began his career at CSE in 1999 and has held various positions including Assistant Deputy Minister of IT Security, acting Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Director General of Cyber Defence and a variety of positions of increasing responsibility across CSE, primarily in the Signals Intelligence and IT Security Domains. He previously worked at the Privy Council Office as a National Security Policy Advisor in the Security & Intelligence Secretariat.
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"Canadian Centre for Cyber Security: backgrounder-fiche-information". Communications Security Establishment. 2018-06-12. Archived from the original on 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
As a key initiative of the 2018 National Cyber Security Strategy the cyber security functions from three departments will be united to establish the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (the Cyber Centre) as one unique, innovative, and forward-looking organization, as part of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE).
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Christian Leuprecht (2018-11-12). "China's silent invasion of Western universities". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
The U.S. has repeatedly implored Canada to follow suit, including a recent bipartisan missive by the ranking Republican and Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's response has been muted, while the incumbent director of the Communication Security Establishment's new Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity, Scott Jones, played down the risk.
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Steven Chase; Robert Fife; Barrie McKenna (2018-10-16). "Trudeau refuses to let 'politics slip into' decision on Huawei". The Globe and Mail. Ottawa. Archived from the original on 2018-10-16. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
He cited Canada's Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the spy agency responsible for protecting the country from cyberattacks and espionage. Scott Jones, the new head of Ottawa's Canadian Centre for Cyber Security at CSE, recently told MPs this country has a robust system of testing facilities for Huawei equipment and software to prevent security breaches – one Mr. Jones suggested was superior to those of some of Canada's allies.
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Richard Chirgwin (2018-09-26). "Canadian security boss ain't afraid of no Huawei, sees no reason for ban: They know how to test kit for backdoors, apparently". The Register. Archived from the original on 2018-10-05. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
In what looked like a dig at Australia's decision to block the vendor from bidding into its 5G rollout, Jones said the Canadian government's 'very advanced relationship' with telcos is 'different from [that of] most other countries'.
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Nick Wood (2018-11-29). "Spark banned from using Huawei 5G kit as domino effect reaches New Zealand". Telecom TV. Archived from the original on 2018-11-30. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
The senators' letter was in direct response to comments made in September by Scott Jones, head-designee of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, who told parliament that there was no need to fall in line with the rest of the alliance because the government already works very closely with operators on cyber defence.